Should You Buy a House Right Now in 2022?

Should you Buy Now or Wait? Inflation is out of control, interest rates are rising along with a decline in buyer demand. Should you buy now or wait for a housing crash?

Hey Scott Himelstein with the Scott Himelstein Group. Welcome back to our vlog. So the number one question I’m getting asked by buyers right now is, “Should I buy right now or should I wait and wait for the market to come down and the housing prices to drop?” So we’ve kind of addressed that already in some of our past videos on why I don’t expect to see a massive price drop right now in the housing market. This isn’t 2008.

So already the inventory is already coming down from the middle of last month. In 91326 zip code, you had 44 properties for sale at one point and now you’re down to 33. So the fact that the inventory come down is showing you that right now that the buyer demand, even though it might be less, as the interest rates have increased, the actual buyer demand is still out there and we’re still seeing offers on our property. Maybe not the 10 to 20 offers that you saw before, but a lot of our listings are seeing a couple of offers on them. So that’s number one.

Again, we don’t expect the market to collapse. So I think for if you’re a buyer and you’re trying to figure out whether or not it makes sense right now to delve in with the higher interest rates and the prices where they are currently or to actually wait, maybe the prices come down slightly, they level off, but the interest rates are gonna be definitely higher towards the end of the year. So let’s just say, for example, right now, where the interest rates currently are, you’re looking at a five and a quarter percent (5.25%) interest rate, more or less. So at five and a quarter right now, and let’s just say those interest rates towards the end of the year or the beginning of next year are closer to six (6), six and a half (6.5) or 7%. So yes, okay, maybe you were able to save a little bit on the actual price of the home, but if the interest rate is that much higher from where it is right now, you’re gonna end up actually paying more for the home in the long term than you would if you were to buy right now.

So that really comes down for a lot of people is down payment. We get a lot of comments and a lot of people telling us, well, “Hey Scott, you know what? I really want to save up for more of a down payment,” but your delay in trying to save for that down payment may cost you more money right now, if the interest rates continue to go up like we expect later this year. So that’s something that you really have to consider if you’re actually looking to buy right now.

The other thing I always tell our buyers right now, especially in this marketplace, is that you have to look at this as a long term investment. Now, again, the probability of we’re just gonna have a market crash and the housing prices are just gonna drop, none of the experts believe that’s actually going to be the case. This isn’t 2008. You have the fundamentals in place to prevent that. So if you’re looking to buy and this is gonna be an investment for long term, especially for a house that you’re gonna be living in with your family and meets your needs, then yeah, the best time to buy is really right now, it’s really hard to be able to time the market from the top or the bottom and whatnot. You really have to do what’s best for you and your family and what you at the end of the day, really feel comfortable with.

So right now, again, we’re seeing a lot of buyers actually buy homes right now. We’re seeing people come out to our open houses. It’s obviously less than it was before in February and March whenthe rates were under 4%, but the buyers are out there right now. The demand is out there right now and we’re seeing it firsthand on our open houses every single weekend.

So if you have any real estate questions, you want to delve into this more with me, give me a call (818)396-3311, (818)396-3311 and thanks for watching our vlog.